Baldwin Wallace University

MAEd: Leadership in Technology Teaching & Learning

Technology Proposal 
 
Ed Tech Candidate: ___​Melissa Fifer​__​​_______
Date Submitted: ________________
School and/or District: ​___​Renwood Elementary in Parma City Schools​___

Technology Description ​(what it is, how it works):

At the beginning of this school year, we adopted a new reading program which
has an online reading resource called “iRead.” However, this resource is currently only
available to students who have Chromebooks and not all students have Chromebooks.
Kindergarten and First Grade students have iPads. This resource is skills-based not
reading level based. Since “iRead” is not available for all students and is only
skills-based, the teachers in the building are in agreement that another online reading
resource is needed. The online reading resource we feel would be most beneficial for
the students to utilize is Raz-Kids (https://www.raz-kids.com).

Strategic Fit ​(in terms of student outcomes and/or professional development)​:

All students and teachers of the building will have access to Raz-Kids (unless the
teacher chooses not to have a subscription bought for their classroom). Students will
also be given log-in information to take home so that they have access from home as
well. Raz-Kids is has numerous benefits for K-5 students. Raz-Kids:
 ● Has 400+ interactive eBooks students can listen to, read, and even record
themselves reading so teachers can monitor fluency
● Has corresponding eQuizzes which automatically test comprehension and
provide teachers with skill reports for data-driven instruction
● Allows teachers to easily track individual and class-wide progress with digital
reports which provide instant feedback on every activity or assessment a student
completed, including the activity progress, assessment score, and feedback on
specific Common Core skills
● Has hundreds of Spanish eBooks to support ELL and Bilingual students
● Has Decodable eBooks, Alphabet eBooks, High Frequency Word eBooks, &
Nursery Rhymes, Poetry, and Song eBooks.
● Provides meaningful reading practice at 29 levels of reading difficulty
● Encourages close reading skills
● Includes built-in motivational rewards

Feasibility ​(effort/resources required to launch):

Little effort is required to set up this resource. Once an order is placed/account is
set up, the user can create their class list by adding student names. Then, the teacher
must determine the students’ reading levels by assessing the students using the
Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System​ (a resource previously purchased by
the district). Once the teacher has determined the students’ reading levels, they will
add them into the program and it will be ready for use.
Most, if not all, of the teachers in the building are already familiar with this
program as our building and district used to have it (it was taken away due to budget
cuts). For those teachers who are unfamiliar with this online reading resource, they
would find that it is a very easy program to navigate, not just for the teachers but also
for the students. Teachers can work with co-teachers who have used the program
previously to learn how to use it. Additionally, there are tutorials the teachers can view
which explain how to set up and navigate the program from the teacher perspective.
There are also tutorials for students which explain and show how they will use the
program.

Preliminary Costs
(​obtain any/all necessary quotes to include hardware, software, training, etc)​:

The cost per classroom is $109.95 per year. However, if 10 or more classrooms
order, the price drops to $99.95 per classroom per year. Raz-Kids is accessible through
any desktop or laptop computer. Raz-Kids is also accessible through a FREE app on
iPads, iPhones, Androids, and Kindle Fires. Since this is the case, no additional
hardware needs to be bought. There is no training cost as one can learn how to use this
program through YouTube tutorials or from peers.

Comments ​(special considerations, available grants, advocated resources)​:

As one of many teachers of students who’s reading levels range drastically, this
resource would be invaluable in providing the differentiated reading levels required to
meet students’ needs.

Attach any additional information as necessary!